Pat Sundine was the long time hostess of Especially for You. Early on there were two other women who were under consideration and auditioned for the spot but Pat was the hands down winner. She and Edie Glidden co-produced the show. There were standard features such as one or two musical numbers daily by either George Sontag or Marge Meinert, Household Hints and then a featured guest on some topic and fairly regularly a brief headline recap of the days news. The announcer shown in one of the snaps was John Irvin who later went to Omaha, then Peoria then to Baltimore where he passed away. John was the host of several shows on WOC and did a lot of the live commercials while he was there. I think that he left WOC for Omaha around 1957 or 1958. Pat also did several live commercial spots as well as being the hostess for locally produced fashion shows.

- WOC Producer Don McGonegle

Pat Sundine on the set of Especially for you Circa 1956/1957. Courtesy WOC Director/Producer Don McGonegle.

I was just looking thru notes from Don McGonegle and he mentioned Edie Glidden. She was among the first women who directed T.V. A rare little person. She died several years ago in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at age 91!

However - on with the show. I simply adored being the on the air hostess of E for You! I had a completely fabulous time - George Sontag was a dear man (I called him "the chocolate bear") - why, I don't recall - I met and cherished many people, home grown and celebrities! - one of my most favorite segments was called "Fables of our Times" - I then had fascinating interviews with people about their lives, people who were then at my age now! The aim of the show was to entertain and inform - I guess we accomplished those goals - among the famous guests were; Pat Boone, Sebastian Cabot, singing quartet The Ames Brothers, Vincent Price, Duke Ellington, Clyde McCoy, orchestra leader Montavoni, actress Celeste Holm, famous orchestra leader Carmen Cavallero, film actor Joel McCrea, bandleader/singer Bob Crosby (Bing's brother), President Ronald Reagan (I filmed him when he was spokesman for General Electric), American society figure Perle Mesta, actress Sylvia Sidney, Loren Green, Robert Young (several times - his doctor lived here), Mary Ann Mobley who was one of the Miss Americas and many others.

I had such a fine and rewarding time - I still dream about it!

I have been Mrs. Fredrick Jasper Edwards for 18 blissful years and I couldn't be happier - Jack Sundine is living in St. Petersburg, Florida - we see each other and talk often. My two daughters are a blessing to us - Krista Kruse lives in Moline and Stephanie Sundine lives in New York.

John Patrick Sundine, my son and their brother, died this past December due to complications from diabetes which he suffered from at the age of seven years.

I must mention Anita Sundin wrote commercials and when I was away, took my place on Especially for You. She was just awarded by the State of Iowa a prize for being the person in the whole state that for years has read books for the blind. Quite an honor and quite a gal!

Love, Patricia Sundine

Pat Sundine with announcer John Irvin who read a brief newscast on the show. Courtesy WOC Director/Producer Don McGonegle.

Legendary WOC engineer Jon Book worked with Pat Sundine behind the scenes on Especially for You -

I worked with Pat Sundine on a regular basis. Not only was I the cameraman for the show, I also helped her in creating commercials for her sponsors. Pat made commercials almost every day for WOC. She did this by doing a live read on television with a color slide of the product such as PAM the non stick spray product along side of her. Part of my job was to crank the prompter paper just above the tv camera lens for her to read.

The front switchboard operator the day before the commercial would air would type in the script for the ad on a special typewriter. It had a large format of about an inch per letter to make the words easy to read and yellow roll paper. The next day I would thread it onto the prompter roller in preparation for that days production.

She had many folks on the show which ranged from well known celebrities such as Lorne Greene and orchestra conductor Mantovanti to local personalities and organizations such as Mable Flint, the Scott County Extension Service, talk about diets, etc.

There were a lot of shows dealing with the topic of live flowers. One person whom I remember is Helen Plaggman. Helen would bring in flowers by the hundreds each year. During Christmas time she would arrive with beautiful arrangements of Poinsettia.

There were some arts and crafts shows and as I mentioned, some movie stars and starletts were on the show when they were in the Quad Cities promoting their latest items and shows.

Sometimes school chorus groups during the holidays would come in and sing. Marge Meinert would come in occasionally to play the piano and George Sontag would always do a song during the show.

There was one funny thing which I did on accident while working on the show. A director called me over to move an object. I thought that it would be a good idea if I would just move behind the camera and push the object. During this project the tv camera and I had panned to the right but unfortunately I had forgotten to unhook my headset mic from the focus arm and therefore had panned the camera to the stage right of the screen and ended up with most of Captain Ernie's Showboat Dixie Belle set ON CAMERA! What a scream I received in the headsets! I then realized that I had walked away and had forgotten to unhook the headsets. All of this during live TV! As they say, that's showbiz!

Pat always had a blue carpet stage and a couch with two end tables and lamps. The curtain behind her was the curtain covering up the wide window that led to the TV A Control Room where all the action for technical switching by the audio man, video man and the director took place.

She had always used a Lavalier RCA microphone along with the guests. If a group was doing something or she was interviewing several people just nearby, then the boom mic on wheels was used.

Ed Jones was the tv director who worked the shows daily with Pat. The show was on at various times during its run. It was always in the morning or around noontime after the news. I believe it was on from 9am to 10am when I was filming the show. I do remember that the studio lights were really hot back then. When you look at the picture with the lights on the set, you can see why!

Occasionally I had to go to Shannon's restaurant downtown Davenport on 3rd Street and Main for the show. At Shannons I would pick up a giant size silver coffee 10 gallon pot and bring it to studio for guests on her show if a lot of them were there on a particular day. Thankfully this did not happen too often!

All in all, I had a terrific time on the set with Pat Sundine. She had an excellent show, had an outstanding presence on camera and was a true professional in every sense of the word. She was a household name in the entire WOC TV 6 viewing area and remains one to this day for those who were around during her shows.

- Jon Book

Another of Pat on the set. The camera is a black & white RCA TK10.

Ed Jones was the director of Especially for You. Ed was an excellent director and a stickler for detail. He always gave us plenty of warning about what he wanted and if we missed one of his calls, it was because we weren't paying attention.

Pat was such a natural at what she did. She was so at ease and that's probably why she was so good. She made each and every viewer feel she was talking directly to them. By the same token, I never saw a guest really nervous on the show. Pat would put them totally at ease with her gracious, calm demeanor.

Pat was like that away from WOC as well. Growing up, one of my friends lived near her and we would occasionally play with her son John. Around the house or when driving us to the park, she was just as nice to us kids as she was to her guests. She's truly one classy lady!

- WOC Alumni and author of "Someplace Special ... KSTT" Dave Coopman

Here is a picture of myself and Iowa Congressman Fredrick Schwengel. It was taken in Washington D.C. Whenever I was out of the studio, whether it be my three year stint with DACOWITS (Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the Services) or something else, I always filmed those people from our area and showed them on T.V. locally on Especially for You. - Patricia Sundine

May 1969

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